A student-founded discount site exclusive to deals in the Durham area has rebranded itself after the threat of a lawsuit.
Hootli—a Duke alumni and student-led venture that advertises discounted group deals for 35 local restaurants and bars, including some on-campus vendors—is regaining traction after avoiding a potential legal battle in August. Formerly known as Sidewalk, the small company changed its name after the owners of the website Sidewalk.com—another business associated with the restaurant industry—claimed infringement upon its identical name.
“We decided to move forward,” said Hootli President Andrew Joiner, Fuqua ’11. “The best course of action was to start fresh and use everything we learned, use our technology, use existing relationships and use our marketing study to relaunch under a new name.”
Although the company’s attorney anticipated that Hootli would win a legal battle if charges were pressed against them, approximately $500,000 in legal and attorney fees was difficult for the small start-up company to dispense for a legal response, Joiner said.
Keeping the well-received owl figure as the company’s logo, the name Hootli was chosen for its uniqueness to try and avoid any future legal issues with website domain names as well as with Twitter and Facebook.
“We learned our lesson the first time, we want something catchy, something simple that’s also something that is completely different from anything that’s in the market right now,” said senior Daniel Bingyou, Hootli vice president of sales.
At one Hootli hosted event at Devine’s Restaurant and Sports Bar Nov. 10, senior Doug Dellinger won a two-night trip to Las Vegas with a $500 credit at a casino. The prize, co-sponsored by Hootli and Devine’s, was part of Hootli’s special launch events that they hosted as various bars and restaurants near campus.
“It’s cool that they’re trying to do something entrepreneurial and also trying to help out local businesses,” Dellinger said. “It’s a good cause [because] they’re [making] students aware of more local businesses.”
Hootli partners with local restaurant and bars to drive customers through its doors during off-peak hours, using time-sensitive deals and draws support from those in the Duke community. The Duke Student Publishing Company, publishers of The Chronicle, provided $8,000 in a convertible note as seed money for the company’s startup costs last Spring and is a marketing partner selling the Hootli service.
The Hootli business model is distinct from other deal-of-the-day websites such as Groupon, Joiner said, with a more focused target demographic—college students—rather than the international breadth offered by Groupon.
With approximately 3,000 active users and plans to include restaurants in Chapel Hill next January, Joiner said he is confident that the rebranding process has not set the company back.
“We’re in a stronger position now based on our traction than ever before,” he said.
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